Phishing is just another computer security vulnerability that carries big risks. Theft of money and identity is big on the Internet and of the biggest ways that thieves and scammers get this information is via phishing websites.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is basically the use of a fake website that is the exact design of a real site used to get you to log in with your personal information. Good examples of typical phishing sites are IRS, banks and Paypal duplicate sites. The login info is then used to steal your identity or money.

Phishing Venues

The most common way that computer users fall prey to phishing sites is via email. An email is sent to the computer user under false pretenses, with a link to the fake site. Usually it comes in the form of an alert of some sort, like “Your online banking needs to be verified” or “your Paypal account has been limited, please login to fix errors.” The user then uses the link to go to the fake site and the login info, such as username and password is recorded giving the scammer all they need to access your accounts.

How to Prevent Phishing

The best way to prevent this type of fraud and theft is to always type the url’s of all your bank, Paypal, and other identity sensitive sites directly into your browser, and never follow a link from an email or from anywhere else.

If you do get an email that is legitimate, then then going directly to the site instead of an email link can ensure that your information is not at risk and still take care of any problem.

For bank alert emails, which are rampant for phishing scams, the best case is to actually call your bank if you are concerned that the email maybe real.

Paypal has tons of fraud like this associated with their site and their policy is to never contact you and ask you for personal information via email.

IRS has the same policy since a rash of phishing emails have been sent to unsuspecting victims claiming that they need the taxpayers personal info in order to issue a stimulus payment. They never send those so they are always frauds.

Firefox Browser Settings and Protection to Alert for Phishing Sites

If you use Firefox browser, which is the best browser for computer security, as Internet Explorer has so many problems and vulnerabilities, then you can set up security protection for phishing alerts.

Go to Tools from your Browser Toolbar

Click Options

Click Security Tab

Select:
Tell Me If The Site I’m Visiting is a Suspected Forgery

This is a great security option as Firefox will actually block access and let you know if the site your are visiting is a suspected forgery.